Worst airport you've ever been to?

[PassiveObserver]

The international terminal at Beijing Capital Airport. I was there on a layover that got delayed from 2 hours to 6. I was operating on barely any sleep and it felt like purgatory. Airport security was brusque and unfriendly. Food options were severely limited, only one restaurant opened with a few cafes. No beer other than in bottles. Nothing but duty-free shops, just nothing of interest at all, and I was initially very excited to be on the mainland for the first time in my life.

 

[mhayes86]

New Orleans was probably the ugliest when I had a layover there years ago.

LAX was definitely a mess and a pain to get around for an international flight.

Frankfurt was incredibly confusing to get into and get around, and that's even when my group and I stayed in one of the airport hotels. Luggage checking was incredibly slow for some reason that day that we barely got through security and to our flight in time.

Dulles. Those who have flown there know it. We don't ever want to talk about it.

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How so? Been there a few times (it's closest to me) and never had a problem myself. Probably the worst experience was when I was waiting at a gate for a flight to Montreal since it was in the back corner with only a Subway nearby for food.

 

[FaceHugger]

Dulles sucked pretty bad. I haven't flown through there in years, but the last two times I did it took too long to get anything done, and there wasn't a decent bar or restaurant to kill time in waiting for a layover. Every last security person was surly and terrible.

Best airport I've been to was Charlotte Douglas. It was huge so it took time getting around, but it's really nice, the security checks aren't ridiculous, and it has some great bars and such. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood is pretty great too.

 

[WascallyWabbit]

Iceland airport would be fine if you could walk through without them trying to sell you anything and everything at every turn

 

[ninnanuam]

Not counting little regional places, I hated the Taoyuan International Airport outside of Taipei. I was stuck there for a transfer for about 4 hours back in 2002 or there abouts and it was ugly, boring and dilapidated. Apparently since then its had a name change and a renovation so it might be fine now.

I generally agree with people bitching about LAX as well, its bad, but at least you can find places to buy food.

 

[signal]

Frankfurt probably.

 

[Mechaplum]

LAX for sure. JFK wasn't much better either, both very crowded and run down and constant under construction.

I go to Changi often, so it really wasn't a good comparison.

 

[345]

LAX and it's not even close. even by US standards it's a hellhole.

laguardia is close though. i had a layover there once and the lights in the terminal didn't work, the roof was leaking, and there were literally pigeons flying around inside.

Not counting little regional places, I hated the Taoyuan International Airport outside of Taipei. I was stuck there for a transfer for about 4 hours back in 2002 or there abouts and it was ugly, boring and dilapidated. Apparently since then its had a name change and a renovation so it might be fine now.

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yeah taoyuan used to be pretty bad but the renovation in 2012 (i think) made a big difference.

i usually fly into songshan these days, which is tiny but so much more convenient — you could walk there from xinyi if it weren't for taipei weather.

 

[TheeFanatic]

LAX \the thread

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This. Shut the thread down. I'll spend the extra money to fly into any other airport in L.A.

 

[Kasai]

O'Hare.

It so, so depressing and grey. Just long hallways full of dim lights and nothing.

I've been to Madrid-Barajas Adolfo Suárez and Fiumicino abroad and those were amazing. Bradley and Logan are both pretty okay.

 

[Capt_Shanu]

Varadero Airport in Cuba. Beautiful country, wonderful people, excellent weather, but the airport felt like a big gymnasium with temporary walls. The brown outs while waiting to clear security didn't help.

 

[Barrel_Roll]

When I was at LaGuardia is April the terminal was under construction and was basically one long corridor with no good food options, so I ended up buying a cup of soft pretzel bites and a soda. I was flying to O'hare and the difference in standards was night and day.

 

[Deleted member 50193]

LAX for sure. Last time I went to Vancouver I flew direct so I wouldn't have to stop there.

 

[Barrel_Roll]

Reading through this thread, the consensus appears to be that airports suck in general?

 

[Brinbe]

NAIA terminal 1 back in the day.... not great lol. i'm sure it's better now.

 

[Matrix XII]

LAX or LaGuardia

 

[Vern]

The international terminal at Beijing Capital Airport. I was there on a layover that got delayed from 2 hours to 6. I was operating on barely any sleep and it felt like purgatory. Airport security was brusque and unfriendly. Food options were severely limited, only one restaurant opened with a few cafes. No beer other than in bottles. Nothing but duty-free shops, just nothing of interest at all, and I was initially very excited to be on the mainland for the first time in my life.

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Beijing isn't great but it's hardly bad either. Plenty of lounges and food options, not sure how you missed them. Sh honqqiao, wuhan, xian, kunming intl terminal and most others I don't care to name in the mainland are worse.

 

[cvxfreak]

Actually, tied with Kuwait is Berlin Tegel. Place needed to be closed a decade ago.

 

[iRAWRasaurus]

Gatwick. The border agent was a complete dick to me.

 

[Vern]

Reading through this thread, the consensus appears to be that airports suck in general?

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Nope. Lots of amazing airports. The trick is to gtfo of the USA.

 

[Deleted member 20630]

Cardiff

 

[nekkid]

People in here saying JFK and LAX...

Yeah, try somewhere like Tunis.

 

[AwareSnake]

The layout of LAX is horrendous, security is pretty bad too.

Kiev Zhuliany airport is a tiny little box with nothing inside and information screens are almost non existent. When you do find one, it's often wrong.

Beijing airport is a massive airport with no substance and feels not only dangerous but missing connections is extremely common for everyone. Only max 2 staff members deal with international connections, you then have to join the regular security line for no reason to go through that whole process again. I've had a two hour connection time there before. An entire hour of it was just in the queue to get from the first plane to into security.

I always tell people this one story of Beijing airport. My first time there, I was tired and I completely forgot to take my phone battery out of my carry on. So it went under the x ray and the woman at security grabbed my bag screaming and demanding me open it and tell me what it was. As this happened, a man came up and just ripped my passport out of my hands and went around the corner. My bag was sorted and rescanned, then a few minutes later the guy came back to me and just shoved my passport back into my hands. I have no idea what he did with it, he said no words to me whatsoever.

I'm going to be going to JFK/LaGuardia/O'Hare in the next few weeks, so I'll see if they are as bad as you guys are saying.

 

[Kewlmyc]

I been to LAX once, but don't remember it.

Of the ones I remember, Laguardia sucks ass the most.

 

[Gentlemen]

Frankfurt probably.

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We have a winner.

I used to think it was LAX.
But that was a picnic compared to flying out of Frankfurt. Hourlong lines snaking *everywhere* with little indication of which line was correct for your circumstances. self check-in terminals that barely functioned due to a software error causing touchscreen inputs to lag by as many as six seconds. I never once understood the old recommendations to arrive four hours early for international travel until I had to fly out of Frankfurt. Nothing in my life has drained so much of my patience out of me so quickly, and it was all just to check baggage in before security.
I remember apologizing internally for all the bad thoughts I ever had about LAX.

 

[elseanio]

The arrivals terminal at Haneda Airport was horrible. So hot and humid, with a very dated carpet that messed with my tired eyes! There was also just one massive queue that took around 2 hours to slink through. Didn't help that it was already about 20 hours of travel time at this point.

The departure terminal was great though :)

 

[RastaMentality]

I hate how overloaded international airports are with duty free stores.

 

[Deleted member 40133]

I didn't like Orlando, the layout.....made no sense to me. At some point I actually said outloud to my wife "what monkey designed this place?"

 

[jb1234]

JFK is a shithole, agreed. I also hated O'Hare.

 

[Zona]

JFK is the gates of Paradise compared to LaGuardia. I help train controllers in NY and even LaGuardia's airspace is a special type of fucked, which is saying something considering just how convoluted NY's airspace is.

 

[Cocolina]

Philadelphia. What a weird mess of an airport.

Manchester. Couldn't cope with holiday rush at all.

Luton. One day they'll finish all the building work, probably.

 

[nekkid]

Male in the Maldives was also horrible. Quite the stark bookend to one of the most amazing vacations.

 

[signal]

i usually fly into songshan these days, which is tiny but so much more convenient — you could walk there from xinyi if it weren't for taipei weather.

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Hell yeah best airport.

 

[theusedversion]

Phuket, Thailand. And the day I went there was no air con because it was broken.

 

[GSG]

In terms of the actual airport itself? Probably Cuzco, it was the most rundown airport I've ever been to.

In terms of the most confusing, probably Madrid. The signage is confusing and it's very difficult to find someone who speaks English.

In terms of poor crowd control and/or long lines, it would have to be Frankfurt or Reykjavik.

 

[Koukalaka]

From my experience, Luton airport. Just god awful.

Heathrow's Terminal 5 also has a special place in my heart as it exemplifies the worst of the "shopping centre that also does flights on the side" design trend - the security bit it's always a nightmare if it's busy because it's crammed into one corner over two floors.

 

[hiro42]

LAX and O'Hare are terrible. Only used it for international connections so maybe domestic is better but the personnel at both places are so rude and unprofessional. It amazes me how some people can get and keep employment there.

The Pudong airport in Shanghai is very dour also.

 

[SolidChamp]

Bangkok's international airport is poorly laid out in some areas.

Detroit's DTW has absolutely nothing.

I barely remember Chicago O'Hare but ate a hotdog there that made me barf like crazy.

 

[Theodran]

LAX, Beijing, Sydney, Heathrow... Pick your poison.

 

[Aldi]

I can recall having a really tough time at Charles De Gaulle. The staff were all unfriendly and really unhelpful, the terminal I was in was so packet with people that I lost my wife several times when she was standing a few feet away from me and the shuttle system was down so the walk from the check in to the actual plane was around 2 miles but felt much longer when your walking with a huddle of people.

By far the best I've been too is Doncaster. The airport is small and there are so few people there that it's easy to talk to staff, get food and drink and relax before you jump on your flight. If ever I can, I always book flights from there now.

 

[Gernau Morat Gurgeh]

Luton is pretty vile. Also, one of the New York airports is genuinely awful: a maze of decaying 1970s architecture and disinterested or actively hostile personnel - Newark I think?

 

[GoldenEye 007]

MCO (Orlando) is underwhelming compared to how many go through there yearly. Bad security design, weird terminal access, etc. They are doing some updates finally in the main terminal building and adding a dedicated international and transport terminal. So we'll see if that helps matters in the future.

 

[Dr Doom]

Paris.
that immigration line is crazy

 

[Midas]

I've haven't been to any airports that I feel are shit, but I'm going to Poland later this year. I imagine that could be shit.

 

[TaySan]

Rapid City's "airport" lol

 

[AndreGX]

All of them

 

[LebGuns]

O'Hare is the absolute worst, just because of all the delays and cancellations endemic to Chicago.

 

[Deleted member 33116]

LAX for the hideous queues.
BKK for a god awful layout where they physically block you going to gates where there's actual seating

 

[anamika]

Heathrow. Congested as fuck and had to sit on the runway for 3 hours to take off. Missed my connecting flight at JFK.

 

[DrM]

Yeah, try somewhere like Tunis.

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Tunis was a interesting experience several years ago. Crowded, unfriendly staff, toilets not working.I think they played basketball with our luggage, my suitcase had scratches all over it...
Another shitty small airport is Treviso in Italy. Budget airline hub (Wizz, Ryanair), that tells enough.